Beginner's Guide To Tradestation Trading Software: Trading

Traders can choose from a variety of intuitive order-entry interfaces within the TradeStation platform.

Order BarThe Order Bar allows traders to place discretionary trades and strategy-generated orders. To open the Order Bar, select View in the main menu > Order Bar; or from the Main toolbar, click the Order Bar icon.

Traders can place market, limit, stop market, and stop limit order directly into the market. In addition, advanced order types including bracket, OCO and OSO orders can be placed using the Order Bar. The Order Bar works in conjunction with the TradeManager window, where all trading activity is logged in real-time.

Figure 19 - Order bar

The upper part of the Order Bar contains fields where traders enter information about the order, such as Symbol, Order Type and Route. The lower area contains buttons that are used to place the order, such as "Buy" and "Sell Short."

Chart TradingUsed in conjunction with a Chart Analysis window (a price chart), TradeStation's Chart Trading feature integrates click-and-drag order-entry functionality, allowing traders to place trades and manage positions and orders from a chart. The Chart Trading feature is written entirely in TradeStation's proprietary programming language - EasyLanguage, enabling developers and traders to modify or extend the application to suit their specific trading needs. To open Chart Trading, click to activate the desired chart and then click the ChartTrading icon on the TradeStation toolbar.

Note: If the ChartTrading icon does not show up on the toolbar, click View in the main menu > Toolbars > Customize. Under the Commands - Format category, drag Chart Trading to the Chart Analysis toolbar in the desired position.

Figure 20 - Order Settings

Buy and sell orders can be placed, edited or canceled by clicking directly on the chart or by clicking on the various order-entry buttons in the Chart Trading Bar. Open positions can be moved to new price levels by clicking and dragging the corresponding order lines, or by right-clicking the Order Line and updating the Quantity and Price by using the drop-down menus.

Figure 21 - Quantity and Price

Use the order-entry buttons to place trades, or use any of the following order-entry actions by clicking directly on the price chart:

Ctrl + Left Click (above the ask) = Buy Stop Market at selected price

Ctrl + Left Click (below the ask) = Buy Limit at selected price

Atl + Left Click (above the bid) = Sell Limit at select price

Alt + Left Click (below the bid) = Sell Stop Market at selected price

Drag & Drop Open Order Line = Cancel/Replace Price

Right-click on Open Order Line to edit the quantity and price

Delete key on Open Order Line to cancel the order

Quick Trade BarThe Quick Trade Bar is a fast order-entry tool that allows traders to place buy and sell market and limit orders for equities, futures and Forex by using a one-click method. To open the Quick Trade Bar, select View from the main menu > Quick Trade Bar, or from the Shortcut Bar > Tools > Quick Trade Bar icon.

Figure 22 - Quick Trade Bar icon

The upper section of the Quick Trade Bar displays the selected symbol, Low and High price of the day, Open P/L, Percent, Position and Average Price. Traders can change the symbol within the Quick Trade Bar by entering the symbol into the symbol box or by using the main toolbar's Command Line.

Figure 23 - Quick Trade Bar

The middle section displays one-click Buy/Buy to Cover and Sell/Sell Short buttons (based on the current account position) along with the current market price and the Bid and Ask prices. The arrows displayed above the Buy/Sell amount indicate the direction of the market. The lower section of the Quick Trade Bar contains preset quantity buttons above the account number. "Buy Mkt," "Sell Mkt," "Take," "Split," "Bid + 1," "Ask - 1" and "Hit" buttons also appear in the lower section.

MatrixTradeStation's Matrix allows traders to view and trade the market from one window. The Matrix can be used to directly place orders for stocks, futures, Forex and Options (equities & index) by loading the appropriate symbol and using one of the various order selection methods.

Matrix Trade BarThe right side of the Matrix window contains the Trade Bar. The Trade Bar is used to specify the type and size of orders that can be placed from the Matrix window. Traders have the option to attach an OSO order or to place an OCO order by clicking the appropriate box. Orders can be placed by using the appropriate buttons in the Matrix Trade Bar, or orders can be entered by clicking directly in the cells within the Matrix.

Figure 25 - Matrix trade bar

Buy (Cover) OrdersTo place a Buy (Cover) order, click on the cell in the Bid Size column at the appropriate price level. If the order type Auto (LMT/STP) or Auto (LMT/STL) has been selected from the drop-down menu in the Matrix Trade Bar, the Matrix will automatically specify a Buy Limit or Buy Stop-Market or Buy Stop-Limit order depending on if the selected Bid Size is above or below the current price. If the order type Limit, Stop Market or Stop Limit is selected, the Buy (Cover) order will always be that type.

Sell (Short) OrdersTo place a Sell (Short) order, click on the cell in the Ask Size column at the appropriate price level. If the order type Auto (LMT/STP) or Auto (LMT/STL) has been selected, the Matrix will specify a Sell Limit or either a Sell Stop-Market or Sell Stop-Limit order depending on if the selected Ask Size is above or below the current price. If the order type Limit, Stop Market or Stop Limit is chosen, the Sell (Short) order will always be that type.

Cancelling and Closing OrdersTraders can click the "X Bids" button on the Matrix Trade Bar to delete open bid orders or click the "X Ofrs" button to delete any open offer orders. To cancel an open order, click on any cell in the Orders column of the Matrix that contains an open order, and the order will automatically be cancelled. Clicking the "Cancel All" button on the Matrix Trade Bar will cancel all open Stop and Limit orders for the symbol that is active in the Matrix window (orders for other symbols will not be effected). Click the "Close" button on the Matrix Trade Bar to exit the current position by placing the appropriate market order.
Beginner's Guide To Tradestation Trading Software: Checking Transaction History